Reel renegade TromaDance Film Festival returns to Jersey

Troma EntertainmentCult filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman started the TromdaDance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, in 2000 to protest the commercialization of the Sundance Film Festival being held there.Dubbed "the first superhero from New Jersey," the monster hero of "The Toxic Avenger" mopped clean the streets of the fictional Tromaville, N.J.

And just like the monster hero he created, the man behind the enduring cult creature stands up for the embattled little guy.

But rather than ridding the streets of thugs, cult writer-director-producer Lloyd Kaufman wants to keep corporate bullies out of the independent film festival circuit.

Kaufman, the president of New York-based Troma Entertainment -- known for its B-grade horror and science-fiction films -- established the TromaDance Film Festival 10 years ago in Park City, Utah, to serve as "the conscience of Sundance," he says.

After a decade, Kaufman's bringing his festival to New Jersey, the home state of Toxie, Troma's biggest star.

"Sundance (film festival) had this really nasty atmosphere where there were all these young kids who would come there to Park City thinking they were going to be welcomed as independent filmmakers, when in fact they were made to feel like outsiders because Jennifer Aniston's diamond earrings are being shown off or something," Kaufman says.

TromaDance was born when Sundance -- Robert Redford's annual film festival held in Park City, now the most prestigious in the United States -- rejected "Cannibal: The Musical," a Troma production written and directed by the then-unknown "South Park" co-creator Trey Parker.

Parker was so adamant about screening the film in Park City, he rented a theater there and had a single-film "festival" that would, eventually, become TromaDance.

Now a full-fledged fest in its own right, TromaDance has a mission: to stage a completely democratized film festival that waives entry fees for filmmakers and admission fees for the audience. Except for the directors and their families, no one is a V.I.P. The only criterion for the entries is that "the movies be made from the heart and soul rather than from the pocketbook," Kaufman says.

This year, the festival will be staged at the ShowRoom in Asbury Park, kicking off with a fundraising screening of Kaufman's "Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead" tomorrow at 10 p.m., followed Saturday by the official festival selections, 22 short films and one feature.

Indie filmmaking producer and director Larry Fessenden is among the guests on tap for the "Sell Your Damn Movie!" panel on Saturday at 6:15 p.m. A closing night party and fundraiser will take place at Asbury Lanes.

"I thought maybe we have made a bit of a difference, because Sundance did seem to be making a bigger effort to be nicer to young, unknown filmmakers, and also selecting a greater number of truly independent movies. They seemed to be trying to go back to their roots," Kaufman says.

"TromaDance has gotten a little bigger and it's really, really hard to find space in Park City, not mentioning the fact it's extremely expensive because there is so little space to show movies. We decided this year we sort of accomplished what we needed to accomplish, and we've outgrown Park City, let's go to Asbury Park."

Kaufman estimates that each TromaDance costs about $30,000 to produce, due to venue rental, advertising and printing costs. It depends on sponsors as well as fundraising events such as the "Poultrygeist" screening and the party.

In the past few years, Troma fans have taken it upon themselves to organize satellite editions of the festival around the world, including ones in Albuquerque, N.M., Shelbyville, Ind., and Berlin, Germany. (They will not necessarily be held this weekend.) The company allows fans to use the Troma name and program their own selections, provided the events are also free to enter and attend.

TromaDance festival director Jonathan Lees and his team attempt each year to assemble "a mix tape of madness," Lees says, from about 600 entries.

"I definitely have a mood-based programming, where it goes from lows where you're just mesmerized by what's on the screen, to those periods you're just going to be shocked and offended by what's on the screen," Lees says. "Playing with an audience's expectation is probably the most fun of programming. Because yes, people might go there expecting the blood, the guts, the breasts, but you know what's awesome is when someone comes up to you and says, "You know, I would have never expected this from a Troma film festival, but I am so glad you played it because it just became my favorite movie.' "

Among the 22 short films in the festival selection are "Four Thieves and the Not-So Sweet Shop," a British import about a group of crooks that tries to steal the world's largest gobstopper from an old man. "It's brilliantly filmed, for one thing," Lees says. "The cinematography is stunning. It's just so silly and out of control. I just love the fact that it can blend gore and comedy."

Then there's "The Devil" from Italy, about a son putting his gravely ill mother in the care of a nanny, who believes she is getting a sweet deal but is mistaken. Also on deck is "Dirty Martini," a documentary about New York burlesque.

The feature-length presentation is "The Human Centipede," about a mad surgeon who connects his abductees through their gastric systems to form the eponymous creature. The screening marks the East Coast premiere of the film, an award winner at Fantastic Fest and Screamfest L.A.

"Mesmerized is what you'll be. You will not believe the things that happen on that screen for 90 minutes or so," Lees says. "We have the hardest stomachs on the planet in our audience. They're the ones that are going to be able to take it. They're still going to go nuts, believe me."

TromaDance Film Festival

When: Fundraising screening of
"Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken
Dead" tomorrow at 10 p.m.. Screenings
begin at noon Saturday and
continue all day.